Monthly Archives: June 2012

Ethan: Professor Harriman, now that the members of the 125th Legislature have finished all their papers, completed all their tests and participated in oral exams ad nausea, do you have a comprehensive assessment of their performance? Phil: I do. Ethan: Excellent! I assume that your comprehensive assessment includes the fact that the Maine economy shrank […]

Post from Ethan Strimling As damaging as a decision to repeal Health Care Reform would have been to Obama’s re-election campaign, the decision to affirm was just as advantageous. Although this election will hinge on the economy, a decision against Obama would have affirmed in voters’ minds what Romney has been saying all along; that […]

Phil: U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe’s abrupt retirement is still reverberating across America, and analysts continue to correctly opine on the dysfunctional U.S. Senate. Her departure, based on exasperation with partisan gridlock, is a reminder that cooperation applies not only to the House and Senate, but to the presidency. The person elected president in November must […]

Watch Ethan & Phil discuss King’s commanding lead in the US Senate race and what Dill and Summers have to do to win. Plus they discuss Gay Marriage polling and what the results mean for the fall campaign. Finally, they look at Ben Grant’s statement trying to push Representative Alex Cornell du Houx to resign. […]

Ethan: Now that the Republican and Democratic primaries are behind us and Charlie Summers and Cynthia Dill have become their party’s nominees against the mighty independent King Angus, I thought it would be interesting to put on our strategy hats and advise the campaigns on how they could beat him. Phil: Well, I don’t know […]

As you know, on Monday we started a contest asking readers, facebook friends, and twitter followers to submit their prediction on who would win the respective US Senate primaries. The rules were simply to submit the names in order of finish and percentage you expected each person to receive. In order to win, you had to get […]

Updated 12:01 Ethan: Based on the remaining towns that need to come in, my sense is that Courtney will win the CD1 race. Updated 11:44 Ethan: Sanford is still out in the Courtney/Calder race, as is Saco. A couple of big chuncks that should close the gap in Courtney’s favor (Sanford is his home town). […]

Watch Ethan & Phil discuss the Tuesday elections with Pat Caldwell. From the US Senate Primaries, to the Congresional Primaries, to local legislative races, they cover it all. Plus, they discuss the significance of the Walker vote in Winsconsin and how it affects what LePage is trying to accomplish here in Maine.

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Weekly Updates

Each week on Friday a new column written by both Ethan and Phil will be posted here on their blog. Additionally check this site out often for other snippets and video footage of the two of them debating the issues.

About the Authors

Ethan Strimling served in the Maine State Senate as Chair of the Labor Committee, Criminal Justice Committee, and the Homeland Security Task Force, while also serving on Taxation for six years. Prior to, he ran a national PAC focused on electing young leaders and provided policy analysis to Maine US Congressman Tom Andrews. He is currently the CEO of LearningWorks, a not-for-profit providing learning opportunities for at-risk youth, the immigrant community, and low-income families. He also serves as a Senior Political Analyst for WCSH/WLBZ TV and for WGAN radio.

Philip Harriman is the former Chairman of the Yarmouth Town Council and four term State Senator. During his Senate terms he was the ranking Republican on the Appropriations, Health and Human Services, Utilities & Energy and Natural Resources Committees. Harriman is a co-founder of Lebel & Harriman, LLP, a business succession, retirement and estate planning firm located in Falmouth, Maine. He has been in the financial planning profession for over 30 years, starting with former Maine Governor James B. Longley's life insurance agency in 1978. He is the host of Inside Maine heard on 560WGAN News Radio and delivers political opinion and analysis for WCSH & WLBZ the NBC television affiliates in Maine.